Sheldon shuts out North in SWC opener

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North Medford had opportunities but couldn't break through against Sheldon senior pitcher Sienna Stanley Thursday.

The visiting Irish scored all their runs in the sixth inning to come away with a 3-0 victory in the Southwest Conference softball opener for both teams at Larry Binney Field.

"It was a well-played game," North Medford coach Mike Mayben said. "It could have gone either way. They took advantage of timely hits, and we didn't have the timely hits to win."

Black Tornado starter Taylor Schmidt blanked Sheldon through five innings, but the Irish got to the junior pitcher in the sixth.

Chloe Buerstatte opened the sixth for Sheldon (8-3, 1-0 SWC) with a single and went to third on Taylor Taggart's base hit. After Taggart stole second, Katie Steigleman doubled home two runs. Then with two outs, Teea Rogers delivered an RBI single to complete the rally.

Stanley struck out six and walked one.

North (4-4, 0-1 SWC) had runners in scoring position in four innings. Its best chance came in the first with runners on second and third and one out.

In the second, courtesy runner Kim Glazier was thrown out at home trying to score from second when a ground ball was bobbled.

And after Kassie Choi doubled to open the seventh, Stanley retired the next three batters.

"(Stanley) is not overpowering but places the ball really well," said Mayben. "She hits the corners consistently. She makes the hitters work."

North's Schmidt struck out seven and didn't issue any walks.

"(Schmidt) threw well," said Mayben. "Other than the sixth, there was no inning where Schmidt faced more than four hitters."

Sheldon 000 003 0 — 3 7 1

North Medford 000 000 0 — 0 4 0

Stanley and Brown; Schmidt and Wolfe. W — Stanley. L — Schmidt (4-1). 2B — S: Steiglemen, Rogers; NM: Choi.

SOUTH MEDFORD 7, SOUTH EUGENE 2 — At Eugene, backup pitcher Dominque Newman had a strong outing and Kinzie Towry provided a big hit as South Medford (6-3, 1-0 SWC) successfully opened conference play.

Newman, a junior, was pressed into service because of a knee injury to South ace Jessica Mondale. Newman struck out nine, walked three and gave up four hits to register her fourth win in five decisions.

Towry provided a bases-clearing double during the Panthers' five-run third inning.

Senior outfielder Rochelle Hiet went 3-for-4 with one run to lead the South Medford attack. Freshman Ashley Hawkins was 2-for-2 with two runs, Samantha Matarese added two hits and sophomore Camille Smith walked twice and scored two runs.

South Medford 105 100 0 — 7 10 1

South Eugene 101 000 0 — 2 4 1

Newman and James; Waddell and Shortreed. W — Newman (4-1). L — Waddell. 2B — SM: Towry; SE: Walkup. 3B — SM: Tacdol.

Sunset Softball

REEDSPORT 8, CASCADE CHRISTIAN 0 — At Reedsport, Brittany Biondi went 2-for-4 with a double and Brandi Johnson also doubled in a losing cause for Cascade Christian.

Leah Weakley struck out six and walked four in six innings for the Challengers (6-8, 2-3 Sunset).

Stephanie Clardy hit a solo home run to lead Reedsport.

Cascade Christian 000 000 0 — 0 5 3

Reedsport 020 330 x — 8 10 2

Weakley and Biondi; Tailor-Nunn and Chelsea Hitchcock. W — Tailor-Nunn. L — Weakley. 2B — CC: Biondi, Johnson; R: Eklund, Holden; HR — R: Clardy.

Nonconference Softball

BUTTE FALLS 9, DAYS CREEK 4 — At Days Creek, Aarika Stephens ripped a two-run double and was the winning pitcher for Butte Falls (8-5) in the nonconference game.

Stephens' double came in a four-run fifth inning. She struck out five before giving way to Brianna Wright in the fifth inning.

Wright, who had an RBI, and Cheyenna Kirkpatrick were each 2-for-4 for the Loggers.

Butte Falls 030 140 1 — 9 7 7

Days Creek 003 001 0 — 4 5 6

Stephens, Wright (5) and Wright, Sutfin (5); Stone, Ramos (5) and Walters. W — Stephens (4-1). L — Stone. 2B — BF: Stephens; DC — Ramos.

SWC Baseball

SOUTH MEDFORD 6, CRATER 2 — A.J. Palazzolo's a first-inning grand slam propelled South Medford to the nonconference victory at Harry & David Field.

Palazzolo's two-out homer highlighted a five-run Panther first inning.

Senior pitcher Josh Camp (3-1) went the distance for South (9-3). Camp induced ground outs to get out of a pair of bases-loaded jams and struck out Christian Massey to end the sixth inning with runners on first and second.

Palazzolo and Griff Boyd each had two hits for South, while Zach Boskovich collected a pair of hits for Crater (8-6).

Crater 002 000 0 — 2 8 0

South Medford 500 001 x — 6 9 2

Bighouse and Higbee; Camp and Reordan. W — Camp (3-1). L — Bighouse. 2B — C: Boskovich. 3B — C: Ray. HR — SM: Palazzolo (4).

Sunset Baseball

CASCADE CHRISTIAN 5, REEDSPORT 2 — At Reedsport, Ryder West collected two hits and two RBIs, and Ryan Pech tossed six shutout innings for Cascade Christian (7-7, 3-2 Sunset).

Pech allowed just two hits and struck out nine before Wes Litton took over in the seventh and surrendered two runs.

The Challengers scored three runs in the first inning.

Josh Artale added two hits and scored once for Cascade.

Cascade Christian 301 001 0 — 5 9 1

Reedsport 000 000 2 — 2 6 2

Pech, Litton (7) and Banks; Palermo and Wilmarth. W — Pech (2-2). L — Palermo. 2B — CC: West, Artale; 3B — R: Christoffersen.

District 5 Baseball

ST. MARY'S 14, NORTH LAKE 13 — Tyler Peterson's two-run double in the sixth provided the go-ahead run and St. Mary's held on for the District 5 victory.

North Lake had scored five runs in the top of the sixth to take a 13-8 lead, only to see the Crusaders answer with six runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.

Paul Hume was 2-for-4 with two runs and a solo home run for St. Mary's (6-1, 3-0 Dist. 5), while teammate Cooper Sherwin was 2-for-5 with one run and one RBI.

North Lake 011 065 0 — 13 10 7

St. Mary's 042 116 x — 14 10 4

McCord and Short; Schrader, Herrmann (5), Brimble (6) and Hoffman. W — Brimble (2-0). L — McCord. 2B — NL: Firecoat; SM: Schrader, Peterson. HR — SM: Hume (2).

Nonconference Baseball

BUTTE FALLS 18, DAYS CREEK 5 — At Days Creek, Harley Casillas banged a double and triple and drove in two runs to spark the Butte Falls' offense in the five-inning nonconference game.

The Loggers (5-1) capitalized on nine walks, three hit batters and eight Days Creek errors.

Joey Knighton also collected two hits for the Loggers.

Butte Falls (10)00 17 — 18 9 5

Days Creek 004 10 — 5 4 8

Gordon, Mercer (4) and Knighton; Hopkins, McQueen (1), O'Sullivan (1), Hodgson (5) and Zimmerman. W — Gordon (2-0). L — Hopkins. 2B — BF: Knighton, Casillas; DC: McQueen. 3B — BF: Casillas

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